To my colleagues in the media: Elections are a serious business. If u are a moderator, prepare. Don't be another @MLauer and look the fool.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) September 8, 2016
First thing we do, let’s kill all the “infotainment” moderators… for the encouragement of the ones who actually want to do their godsdamned job.
30 minutes isn’t a lot of time to cover US policy to all the regions of the world, so Lauer has wisely chosen to ask about none of them.
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) September 8, 2016
How in the hell does Lauer not factcheck Trump lying about Iraq? This is embarrassingly bad.
— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) September 8, 2016
If you saw #CICForum and you think Trump is a plausible commander-in-chief, I doubt either your patriotism or your judgment or both.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) September 8, 2016
The most important job of a journalist is to be a good listener. @MLauer fails the test at the first instance.
— Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) September 8, 2016
I'm not sure either candidate can feel like they made progress tonight. Clinton was on the defensive and Trump lacked a lot of substance
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) September 8, 2016
Are you high, Chuck Todd? You're high, right? You must be high. Good for you, buddy. BLAZE IT CHUCK! https://t.co/m0kbuj9Edr
— Wil Wheaton (@wilw) September 8, 2016
redshirt
LOL.
PsiFighter37
Guess all those fluff interviews like the ones he gave to Ryan Lochte didn’t really prepare him for this.
Lauer should be goddamned ashamed of his performance.
Trentrunner
I initially thought (and wrote downstairs) that tonight showed how easily Hillary will crush Trump in the debates.
Now, after reading/watching 45 minutes of “analysis,” I truly think the media could win this election for Trump.
Even Rachel was moderating a both-sides orgy of stupid analysis, ably abetted by that smarmy Rieckoff.
We are so, so fucked. Trump was INSANE.
SiubhanDuinne
Chuck you, Fuck Todd.
dmsilev
Chuck Todd is the living embodiment of the Peter Principle.
Iowa Old Lady
“Trump lacked a lot of substance”? No duh. There’s deep journalistic experience showing in that comment.
dedc79
When I write my opus “The Decline and Fall of the United States of America”, Chapter 37 will be called The Night Matt Lauer Moderated a Presidential Forum on National Security
mapaghimagisk
Chuck Todd should know about lacking substance
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Trentrunner: This is why I’ve stopped watching cable, I may pull the plug after the election.
Major Major Major Major
@Trentrunner: the media tends to get who “won” the debates very very wrong, and in the age of snap polling there’s some instant counterprogramming now. We’ll be fine.
ETA: What HG says below me, also too.
Hunter Gathers
@Trentrunner:
The media ‘won’ the election for Romney as well. Too bad actual voters had to muck it all up. They were that close to putting that uppity negro in his place for not apologizing for his Unforgivable Blackness.
Frankensteinbeck
@Trentrunner:
The Beltway Media is very good at determining what topics are put in front of the American people. They are terrible at dictating how people react to those topics. Their interpretation of the debate won’t mean much if what the people watching see is Trump raving like an angry four year old and Hillary confident and knowledgeable.
MomSense
@SiubhanDuinne:
Ha!
Jeffro
@Trentrunner: I understand the concern but I just don’t see it in the numbers.
Having said that it’s quite clear from everyone’s comments (I did not watch the “Town hall” myself) that Matt Lauer was not up to the simple task of asking a follow up and repeatedly interrupted Secretary Clinton. She should run an ad with side by side snippets from her and trumps portions of tonight’s fiasco – most people are smart enough to see the double standard if you hold it out next to each other
geg6
I want to hear Tom Levensin tell me again that the media don’t have an agenda against Hillary again after this fiasco. I love Tom but he has lost the plot with these people.
Jeffro
@SiubhanDuinne: @dmsilev:
Yes and yes
Frankensteinbeck
@geg6:
Tom believes they don’t THINK they have an agenda. That’s not the same as not having one.
EDIT – Think of it this way: They’re doing what comes naturally. It’s natural to them to say ‘You’re shifty and untrustworthy!’ to Hillary, and ‘Who’s a good little monkey?’ to Trump.
Major Major Major Major
@geg6: @Frankensteinbeck: what Franken said. This isn’t a hard distinction to grasp.
geg6
@Frankensteinbeck:
I don’t agree with that naive notion either.
Davis X. Machina
I figured out why all the hostility leveled by Trump at flag officers…. all the best coups are run by colonels/
Jeffro
I have to believe that the DC and New York media a.k.a. the villagers must feel at this point that Hillary is definitely going to win but they need to do this sort of thing to try and preserve some sort of stupid perception of neutrality ( on the outside ) and have a great deal of antipathy towards her ( on the inside ). This would be bad enough if it weren’t so painfully obvious that Trump is a danger to the country – A complete incompetent, with completely incompetent almost nonexistent staff, with no political or ideological coherence whatsoever other than his own ego.
I am tempted to say we should start giving out something like a Nero award but that would be elevating them to the status of emperors ( even though they truly are fiddling while Rome is about the burn). Is there a better metaphor out there? Let’s pick one and start making these awards post haste
hellslittlestangel
Ten o’clock already? I hope it’s not too late to call Matt Lauer a shallow shit-head!
redshirt
Whoa, Cole pulled a post? Has that ever happened?
The Thin Black Duke
@Frankensteinbeck: A distinction without a difference.
Omnes Omnibus
@Davis X. Machina: Pinochet was a general.
Adam L Silverman
@dedc79: Gonna be a short chapter.
Trentrunner
Yes, I know what the numbers are. I also know numbers can change.
The last time Hillary fell behind, it was because of Comey’s FBI conference.
This email shit was 1/3 of Hillary’s time tonight. ON THE TOPIC OF NATIONAL SECURITY AND VETERANS’ ISSUES.
Trump: Putin is a better leader than Obama. I will fire generals, who are rubble. Military rape happens because women can now serve.
The normalizing of this bully-baby-bigot narcissist is absolutely chilling, and this both-sidesism is a big part of that.
geg6
@Major Major Major Major:
I get the distinction. I don’t believe there is one in this case. He does. I’ve read all of his pieces on this matter. I still think he is being naive and all too accommodating to their lies and excuses. I have no doubt whatsoever that they have a conscious agenda to take her down. They are psychopaths.
jl
@Jeffro: Ethelred the Unready Awards?
Edit: Unfair to Ethelred, who IIRC was a teenage king trying to beat back the psycho Danish Vikings, and I’ve read that ‘unready’ really means ‘badly advised’. Been a 1000 years. Too soon?
Edit: need to look up illustrious or infamous erstwhile leaders who would provide a fitting name. Is there a King Paul the Punk in history?
Mary G
Rinse Prybar tweeted about Hillary not smiling and the responses on Twitter are hilarious. The first one is “talk less, @Reince.”
Corner Stone
If Andrea Mitchell were not already a member of the undead I might consider taking her out to Miller’s Crossing.
SiubhanDuinne
@redshirt:
Whut, whut?
Major Major Major Major
@geg6: all 3,500 people who work at the Times? Or just the news division. That’s a lot of people, you’d think there would be a recording of something questionable!
NonyNony
@Mary G:
Are you fucking kidding me? Seriously?
Maybe next time he can complain that she should be making him a sandwich.
Betty Cracker
As I confessed in the post below, I didn’t pay super-close attention to the forum. But I thought Trump’s answer on his “secret plan to defeat ISIS” was really terrible. It could be 95% of an attack ad.
dedc79
@Adam L Silverman: It’s going to read something like this:
Hildebrand
@geg6: Yep – Haberman tweeted about how Hillary was ‘visibly irritated and defensive.’ Clearly a sign of her wholly unbiased and constructive take on this election.
hilts
“Let’s kill all the “infotainment” moderators”
Good idea, but this will never happen because the networks are always looking to boost their stars. Maybe in some parallel universe, Richard Engel was the moderator.
Omnes Omnibus
@geg6: NYT reporters are psychopaths?
MomSense
@geg6:
It’s really obvious that they have an agenda. I’m with you on this one.
geg6
@Major Major Major Major:
Oh fuck off. It’s not every employee of the NYT we’re discussing, is it? And who said either of us are only discussing the coverage by the NYT? Who ran this stupid fucking “forum” tonight? It wasn’t the NYT.
Mary G
@NonyNony:
Trentrunner
Looks like our Tom Levenson is in the middle of another escalating Twitter back-and-forth with NYT’s Maggie Haberman.
Good for Tom. :)
Adam L Silverman
@Trentrunner: I may or may not be responsible for that… I forwarded her tweet to him.
Major Major Major Major
@geg6: Tom was talking about the NYT. I was referencing that conversation. But please, go fuck off yourself.
rikyrah
@Trentrunner:
Kick twitter butt, Tom.
Aleta
@NonyNony: You know, if she walked in carrying a stack of trays and and passed out homemade cookies to each row, it might improve her theatrics score next time.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: I still don’t understand how 99% of adults – OK 99% of adults who have kids – can’t see right through trumps dumb answers about his “secret plans” as the ramblings of a kid who didn’t do his homework. Like, ever.
Corner Stone
@hilts:
No! No! Not only No! but Fuck No!
Kropadope
@Frankensteinbeck:
Also their actions can be interpreted to serve different agendas. My personal interpretation is that they live in perpetual fear of being accused of liberal bias by Republicans, thus alienating people and, worse, advertisers. They haven’t gotten wise to the game. Anything short of complete devotion to Real American Republicans and utter denouncement of their enemies (not opponents) is evidence of a stark liberal bias.
Adam L Silverman
Tweety just called Trump a liar on the Libya statement. The world will end by midnight!
geg6
@Trentrunner:
He’ll never break through because he assumes good faith on their part. There is no good faith. Zero. Zilch. They’ve been waiting with saliva dripping off their jaws to rip her to pieces since 1991-2, at least. It’s Broderism after being distilled for 25 years.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@SiubhanDuinne: Look at Cole’s twitter feed on sidebar.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
So Hillary didn’t bury Trump and Trump ranted like the idiot he is, so the media is calling this a win for Trump? lovely, these twits really see the election a reality tv show.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Is that one of the signs of the End of Days? I haven’t been keeping track.
James E Powell
Other than “Because it makes her look bad” why do they keep asking about the e-mails? There hasn’t been any new information in over a month. What is it that they feel they need to know that isn’t already known?
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: I’m pretty sure its the glyph from the back of the Mayan calendar.
Major Major Major Major
@James E Powell: because they’re idiots. There are things that make her look way worse, if that was their intention.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman:
It’s been nice reading your posts, Adam.
JPL
@Trentrunner: Looks like she didn’t like his critique.. so just a basic you’re right, others are wrong. Nowhere to really go from there. Have a good one. Maybe tomorrow he’ll have another analysis of the paper, with pretty art work. woot
Joeff
H handled very hostile Qs reasonably well. T got very wound up. Lauer did challenge him on some (not all) inconsistencies. He said some really dumb stuff which will be in H ads tomorrow (eg fellating Putin). In an actual debate H will set T on fire.
hovercraft
@Frankensteinbeck:
I agree, they will all focus on so-called “undecided and independent voters” reactions to the debate. The only problem is the sample they’re dealing with is miniscule and full of shit. If you can’t decide between Hillary and the Turd you are not serious. In 2012 the pundits told me RMoney won every debate, but when the actual, not insta polls came out the voters disagreed. The media spent that entire election cycle telling us how terrible the recovery was, and that Mitt’s business acumen was what America needed and the country disagreed. They have been ponding her non stop for three weeks at this point, and her lead is now back to where it was pre-conventions. They may feel he deserves credit for not shitting himself on the stage, does not mean the viewers will agree.
geg6
@Major Major Major Major:
Even taking the narrow point that we can only talk about the Times in this context and there is no good reason to extrapolate that since the “paper of record” acts in this fashion, no other media would follow suit, we still are not talking about every employee of the Times. But if it makes you feel good to think you’ve made some sort of successful argument, then I bow to your debating mastery. Jesus. Go get a law degree. You’ll fit right in.
Joeff
They also gave her a chair that was too high, creating physical awkwardness. Women will notice.
p.a.
I liked the “What were you watching, Hogan’s Heroes?” tweet to Shuck Todd. Media may not throw election 2 tRump, but the have already normalized the racism, misogyny for now and future elections. National, state & local.
Old Dan and Little Anne
@Mary G: The responses to that tweet make me feel a bit better about humanity. Rinse is getting trashed by everyone.
Major Major Major Major
@geg6: yeah, my closer of telling you to go fuck yourself would be a real winner in court.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Well, shit. It’s been fun hanging with you pack of jackals, but I’d better get my hair washed before midnight. Wouldn’t want to be launched into eternity without nice shiny hair!
philadelphialawyer
@geg6: Yeah. They are not so stupid as to actually be “played” or “hacked” or whatever the term du jour is by something as transparently phony as “Judicial Watch.” Nor is it all “unconscious” bias. Rather, they hate the Clintons because they could not nail them after having declared, over and over again, that they did something seriously wrong.
And they are afraid of being called too “liberal.”
And then there is the horse race thing, too.
Beyond that, they know Donald Trump is a POS. And that him winning would be genuine threat to the country and the world. But, as someone posted in a prior thread, they think Hillary is going to win, and so are not worried about exposing him. Meanwhile, he is good copy….either as the outrageous racist-sexist-fascist/buffoon, who says something ridiculous and offensive whenever he is allowed to tweet, or as the “Oh my God, he could actually WIN” nightmare to the sane portion of the population when his handlers have him under control.
Hillary being who she really is has NEVER been good copy for them. The idea of a women who is passed the age where most folks will find her sexually attractive, who is smart and well versed on policy issues, and whose best demographic is other older women, does nothing for them as click bait. They openly and obviously favored Obama in 2008 and Sanders this year over her too. Because they were better copy.
They damn well know that they are not being fair to Hillary, but they don’t care. Because doing so is good for business and because they hate her.
Major Major Major Major
@?BillinGlendaleCA: don’t patronize. ?
Feebog
David Ignatius making some really good points on MSNBC.
geg6
@Major Major Major Major:
No, but your deeply dishonest parsing of my argument would have them lining up to buy you drinks at the nearest oak paneled bar.
Major Major Major Major
@geg6: if you thought that was a serious argument you need your head examined.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: You and Phyllis Schlaffly!
p.a.
@geg6: can you 2 continue this via email? You’re bogarting all the digitals.
Adam L Silverman
@Feebog: He’s a sharp guy. I was hoping someone would point out that the Intel Community does not make policy recommendations – at least not at the briefing level.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: oh, now THAT was a low blow, Dr. Silverman.
geg6
@philadelphialawyer:
Exactly. And a perfect description of their psychopathy, I must say. I dub thee a lawyer I can deal with. Having been a pre-law path undergrad before changing my mind halfway through, I have some small idea as to how few of those there are in the world. You, sir or madam, are a shining example to your profession!
p.a.
@Adam L Silverman: That’s just mean (to Miss B) This election is souring everyone. #dontbeAbSnopes
philadelphialawyer
@geg6: Thanks!
Frankensteinbeck
@p.a.:
They’ve been doing that since the 80s. The bigotry the media pretends doesn’t exist has just gotten so bad that a big chunk of whites are noticing for the first time.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Major Major Major Major: Get off my lawn, damn kid.?
mapaghimagisk
Wow, Trump is not fit for commander in chief, and his entire staff can’t do their jobs.
The Best People. The Best.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: I wasn’t comparing, just making an observation. That woman’s hair was shellacked and shiny for decades.
Mike J
@Major Major Major Major:
I don’t patronize bunny rabbits.
Adam L Silverman
@p.a.: Mean is when I send her articles about clowns. This was just being annoying.
Omnes Omnibus
@p.a.: Please do not cite to “As I Die Reading.”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: I thought you were out finding High Class Hookers* and pure blow.
*High Class Hookers is a Registered Trademark of the Republican National Committee.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: ::side-eye::
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I have the internet.
p.a.
@?BillinGlendaleCA: and Goldman Sachs
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: I don’t shellack my hair. Not intentionally, anyway. I have had to rinse pine resin out of it before, tho’.
Frankensteinbeck
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I remember with some amusement the article about how male prostitute business boomed during the convention, and female prostitute business was slow.
Miss Bianca
@?BillinGlendaleCA: “pure as driven blow”…?
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: That’s because you’re a Lumberjill and you’re okay!
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: You mean, for virtual hookers and blow? Or delivery services?
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Ordering. One can get almost anything delivered.
mike in dc
@Corner Stone:
Juan Cole and John Cole should be the moderators in an alternate universe.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: I also brew with the stuff. My own version of retsina, basically…
But man, is it sticky.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: I’ll update the files.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mike in dc: Juan Cole’s given name is John R. Cole. Could be confusing.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: Not out here, meester. Best I could do would be cowboys and meth.
p.a.
@Omnes Omnibus: High school Eng teacher hooked us on As I Lay Dying by describing it as “the Beverley Hillbillies if they were heroin addicts” (Bryan Cranston hadn’t invented meth yet).
It was the wrong reference anyway (now corrected): Ab Snopes from The Hamlet IIRC.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Uh…how big is this ‘file’ you keep talking about, anyway…?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Miss Bianca: That’s a rather personal question.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: You should open a male strip joint with that name. Make yourself lots of money peddling the flesh.
p.a.
@Miss Bianca: you brew your own shellack??!! ?
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: You don’t need to know.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Have a lovely evening.
Corner Stone
@Miss Bianca: I don’t have any meth but I have strung more than my fair share of barbwire…or as we call it, bobwire.
Miss Bianca
@p.a.: Err…no. That is, I have actually experimented with making shellac, but I’m making mead with pinyon resin. Should know in a few months whether it’s gonna turn out great or awful.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: What is with you tonight? Never mind, I’m sure that’s on a need-to-know basis as well…
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: I am. Awaiting the end of the world with chocolate and my own virtual jackal pack. : )
Mnemosyne
@Miss Bianca:
He just watched half an hour of unfiltered Donald Trump. Someone should probably check him for a concussion.
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Yeah, well now, I am worried about delivery being slow.
p.a.
@Mnemosyne: and a damaged desk.
Mnemosyne
@p.a.:
I’m pretty sure the audio frequency of Trump’s voice can cause brain damage all on its own. That’s why I avoid listening to him whenever possible.
LosGatosCA
Trump is absolutely insane and he proved it on every level in the cable mayhem this evening – from ‘steal the oil’ to Putin ‘in control’ his lines seem to have been written by Will Farrell.
Forget the
James E Powell
@philadelphialawyer:
This. It is definitely not some semi-conscious thing, or some institutional tendency. They’ve all been called out on it several times, with evidence to back it up, and they continue with the same behavior. It’s deliberate.
Remember Michael Schmidt and Matt Apuzzo, the two who wrote that two IGs were recommending criminal investigation of HRC? They should have been canned, but both of them are still at the NYT and they are both still working the Hunt for Hillary.
Scott Allowat
@hellslittlestangel: You are too kind. He’s a second-rate entertainment host, at best. He is NOT a journalist. I’m a former small-town paper editor and if he was an intern, he would have been graded unsatisfactory.
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus: Have you seen the story about multiple creepy (is there any other kind?) clown sightings.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: @Mnemosyne: I’m fine – more or less. Actually getting ready to check out for the night.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: Pro-tip: If you’re yelling “Hurry up!!” at the computer, you’ve probably had enough blow already.
Mnemosyne
@schrodinger’s cat:
I got your email and replied — Yahoo! had decided it was not worthy of being on my phone, for some reason.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodinger’s cat: The NC story? Yes, thanks yonks for mentioning it..
@Miss Bianca: Not yelling at the computer, just wondering if the taxis will get here before the world ends.
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus: If you use the word yonks one more time…
Lizzy L
I just got home and skimmed the posts with comments. Thank you all for listening/watching to the CinC Forum and commenting in your multiple inimitable fashion(s): I think I have pretty good idea of what happened. I just sent Hillary some more $$$. Good night, all!
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: Yonks.
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus: …I am going to masturbate to clown pr0n,
Now that’s on you. It’s all on you, sir. Just couldn’t help yourself, could you? Now you’ve got this whole thing going on.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: Your soul is your own and if you go down that route, may heaven (or dog, more likely dog) forgive you.
daves09
At least Lauer didn’t ask about hisfavorite colors and what he orders when he goes out to eat ala Anderson Cooper. What is it with these tuff guy interviewers when confronted by Trump?
If I were interviewing Trump I’d never take my eyes off his hair, be absolutely fascinated by it.
ChrisGrrr
@geg6 (et al): Yessss. Two of the front-pagers I admire apparently found no slanted intent in a couple decades-plus of relentless Clinton-accusing.
A lack of motive was hard to believe after the first such decade.
Ruckus
@mapaghimagisk:
How can he know about lacking substance? The only way would be if he had any so he could tell the difference. He doesn’t so he can’t.
redshirt
@Corner Stone:
You are an odd individual.
Ian
@p.a.:
The U.S. army may well sue you for defament on that one. Give credit where credit is due.
Sondra
@PsiFighter37: I hated that
forum in the first 2 minutes when Lauer asked Hillary about those damned emails again for the thousandth time and then interrupted her every other word. What a creep.
I sent the executives a scathing email about 5 minutes in.